Cracked Cauldron Spillings

Part III: Wherein we follow our Intrepid Entrepreneurs as they stumble and bumble towards the goal of opening a bakery in OKC while talking about baking and food.

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Incorporation

Manager met with her attorney yesterday and knocked his socks off.

Well, OK, not literally.

But she impressed him by handing him a copy of her business plan. He'll file all the paperwork and secure the licenses for the Cracked Cauldron and review her rental agreement before she signs any papers for renting any place.

Unfortunately, the place she most wanted has now been rented.

The building in which the Celtic Cup was once is too small - and we found out, improperly zoned even for a coffee shop.

There's another building in front of it, actually on NW 23rd, but if my calculations are correct, he wants $63,000.00 a month for it. 4200 square feet at $15.00 a square foot is $63,000.00. Where does this realtor get off thinking anyone will pay that much for that space?

That makes the old Spaghetti Warehouse look delightful at only $3,000.00 a month. Even the rental spaces downtown are less expensive than that! There's a space right across the hall from the bank that is slightly small, but they want only $6,000.00 a month for it - right on the corner of Park and Broadway, directly across the street from the Skirvin Plaza Hotel that will finally be rennovated and supposedly open for business in 2005. Construction workers, building employees, visitors to the courthouse down the street, visitors to the offices inside the building, close to all the politicians' off-capitol offices, walking distance from 3 other major downtown hotels, and across the street from Bricktown (where the Spaghetti Factory moved when they outgrew the Paseo). It's not an unreasonable rent, and it is a good location. Parking is a problem, though.

So, now that incorporation is out of the way, we are figuring out, with the CPA, what investment stock, if any, we'll offer. As a Subchapter S, we're limited to a maximum of 75 shareholders, so we have to be rather careful of how we handle this.

Manager is ramping up her search for the Ideal Location.

And, after her talk with the CPA to proof her figures for the buiness loan proposal, we'll start talking Money.

To stay in business with zero incoming money for 6 months, she'll need $250,000.00. Oddly enough, the second half of the year is much cheaper - the whole year is only $350,000.00.

That's because the first half of the year will include a lot of one-time and rare expenses - deposits, purchase of large equipment, remodeling and decorating, and general start-up expenses.

The rest of it is rental, insurance, wages, employee benefits, and supplies.

We have our suppliers for the coffee beans and teas and flours. We're negotiating with a local ranch for our beef, and with other local breeders and farmers for pork, chicken, and dairy products. The agriculture department has been very helpful in loating some of these suppliers, and word of mouth has been incredibly useful here as well.

As I said, things would start moving very fast once Manager left college.